June/July 2023 New Airstrip In Use!

Greetings! The following is a brief look at the activities of the past couple of months. Thank you all for your prayers and support.

We kicked June off by attending the UIM Aviation field conference. We are required to participate in a field conference every year, and this year, it was in Mexico for the first time! It took place in a beach town about three hours from where we live. Our team was tasked with planning the event because it was close to our home area. It was a great week of rest, catching up with co-workers -some of whom we rarely see, ministry updates, vision casting, and swimming. (Nora and Hudson began swimming without floaties for the first time!) Nathan led music during the morning devotions, which he greatly enjoyed because he sometimes misses the opportunity to lead worship regularly.

UIMA conference attendees

The day after we returned from the conference Jasson and Nathan began flying a short-term medical team out to the Sierras. The team is part of a non-profit called GuiMedic that flies with UIMA regularly. A Christian doctor leads them, and she brings a few interns into the Sierras to conduct free medical clinics for the Indigenous nearly every weekend. Depending on their destination, they drive, go by boat, or to the most remote locations - they fly. On Friday, they flew into a village with an airstrip and then went by truck for another hour or so to reach their destination. It took three flights there and back to get the team, all their water, food, camping gear, and medicine out to the sierras. Jasson and Nathan flew back on Sunday to pick them up. The doctor is incredibly talented and dedicated to bringing health care to these remote communities and sharing the message of the Great Physician with her patients and interns.

GuiaMedic team

Later, after the medical team was back, Nathan and Jasson flew to a new location to check out an airstrip that UIM hadn't used in nearly ten years. The pastor of our church had made contact with a native missionary in the area and wanted to visit to encourage the missionary family and help with the construction of a church building. Nathan and Jasson flew to the location a few days before the pastor's trip to see if it was usable and to assess how difficult it would be to fly in and out of. Due to the nearby terrain and buildings, it is probably the most technical strip that Nathan has been trained for. After inspecting the airstrip and performing several landings, take-offs, and go-arounds to establish standard procedures, they returned to the base. Later that week, they returned to the village with our pastor, his wife, and an electrician. While they visited the missionary in a nearby town, Nathan and Jasson performed a few more landings for Nathan to practice and get signed off for solo flights to the airstrip. We thank God for this airstrip and the new area of ministry, and the ability to bring the local missionary encouragement.

The team from our church going to a new airstrip

After that trip, Jasson and his family left for the States for furlough. Kevin and his family had left for their furlough a couple of weeks prior. That leaves us to hold down the fort until their return. Nathan is busy keeping an eye on the conditions of the airstrips and the airplane during the rainy season; he is also responsible for all the needed flying. There have been flights for medical evacuations and airstrip maintenance. Kayla is also busy with homeschooling and homemaking, and she has been attending a women's prayer meeting, which has the added challenge (benefit?) of being in Spanish.

There is an incredible story about God providing a library; in case you missed it, you can find it here! :

Our Library

Thanks for reading! As always, we thank God for you and your interest in our ministry. May God richly bless you and cause His face to shine upon you!